Emorries

a magnifying glass over photos and books

Emorries

n.
vivid memories of a certain experience that you carry in your head for years until they’re casually disputed by someone who remembers it very differently—correcting basic chronology, clarifying a misread gesture, or adding context you never knew—which makes you want to look again at all the images you’ve been using to piece together your worldview, wondering what details might’ve been hidden in shadow all this time, or washed out by your own naïveté.

After documentary filmmaker Errol Morris, whose work often addresses the fallibility of memory and how little of reality can be captured in a photograph. Pronounced “em-uh-reez,” like memories, but with a piece missing.

Enterhood

adults with stern expressions holding a child

Pithered

stacks of papers and folders piled high on a table

Echthesia

blurry image of two clocks

Lisolia

a bookcase containing objects

Tirosy

a close-up of a young child's face

Alpha Exposure

a close-up of a baby with diffusion filter

Ecury

a close-up of cave drawings and symbols

Yeorie

a woman with tendrils of smoke moving across her face

Énouement

a hand opening a curtain

Epistrix

several doors standing in a dark room

Appriesse

a blurry image of a person looking at mounted images

Daguerreologue

Daguer-reologue

a man sitting in blurred silhouette at a desk

Emorries

a magnifying glass over photos and books

Archimony

a person looking at broken furniture

Blinkback

a wall full of pictures and objects

Walloway

water faucet that seems to emanate from the ground

Zysia

a kite soaring above an empty landscape

Anticious

a group of men in hats looking at elevated signage

Endzoned

Cover image for the Endzoned word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Fensiveness

Cover image for the Fensiveness word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Grayshift

a spiral staircase from above

Tillid

Cover image for the Tillid word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Nullness

Cover image for the Nullness word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Indosentia

Cover image for the Indosentia word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Keyframe

a large rock in the water with emanating ripples

Incidental Contact High

Cover image for the Incidental Contact High word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Lockheartedness

Cover image for the Lockheartedness word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows